The victory improved Russia’s record to 5-3. Bulgaria falls to 0-8. On Sunday, Russia will play the United States and Bulgaria will face Australia.

Russia led Bulgaria in kills (38-29), blocks (11-4) and aces (5-0). Russia’s receiving was also consistent and kept the squad in-system.

Russia’s Victor Poletaev was the only player from either team in double figures with 10 points on 10 spikes. Russia’s Dmitriy Muserskiy led all players in blocks with three, despite playing only the third set. Russia’s Sergey Tetyukhin, who only started the first two sets, led in aces with two.

Bulgaria was leading the first set 18-15 when it served out of bounds. Russia’s Alexander Volkov followed with a block and Egor Kliuka connected on a kill to tie the score at 18-18. Bulgaria called timeout, but Kliuka and Poletaev nailed two straight kills to put Russia ahead for good.

Russia jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second set and Bulgaria never responded.

Russia made wholesale changes in the third set, bringing in Lukas Divis, Dmitry Volkov, Andrey Ashchev and Muserskiy to finish the match. Nevertheless, the score was close until late in the match when Russia led 18-17. Russia scored on an attack by Volkov, which spurred a 5-0 run and put the match out of reach of Bulgaria.